CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
A local dad has spent the last few days in quiet contemplation, after learning that the most talented man in Australian television will now be permanently hanging up the lapel microphone.
Rugby league and TV icon Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin has this week confirmed that he will not be appearing as a member of the Channel Nine commentary team for the 2025 NRL season.
This comes after 33 years in the public eye.
Vautin is an NRL great, having played 261 games for the Western Suburbs, Manly and Queensland – in turn cementing his status as a household name on both sides of the Tweed.
But it was after football that Vautin pivoted from footy legend to a national TV superstar.
From 1992 onwards, The Fat hosted the NRL Footy Show alongside former Parramatta great, Peter Sterling.
The duo ended up transcending the game of rugby league, as the Footy Show became Australia’s most successful variety programme, racking up 11 Logie Awards over 23 years.
Fatty and Sterlo’s natural charisma and riotous comedy proved that Australian TV was at it’s best when taking out of the hands of the stage and theatre kids, and given to the everyman.
Never before, and never since has there been a television institution that connected with middle Australia so well, in a format that outlasted both the AFL version, and any other programme of it’s nature.
Vautin retires from television this year having had more influence on Australian humour than any other media personality, with an ability to generate hours of laughter from the most subtle of head nods.
His departure from free-to-air television signals the end of an era, not just for that brand of irreverent sports-comedy, but also the medium as a whole.
With a generation of kids now finding their own sources of entertainment in a fragmented online landscape, the likelihood of Australia ever again sharing the joyfully ubiquitous experiences that Fatty Vautin provided is slim to none.
Right around the country, local dads, mums, daughters, sons, aunts and uncles are farewelling the heyday of Aussie TV – and giving thanks for the memories. Especially the chilli eating episode. And the vomatron. And the crack-a-fat segment. There was 23 years of good times.
GO WELL FAT.
